Chris Paul, who was playing point guard for the New Orleans Pelicans at the time, established his CP3 Elite Guard camp in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 2008. This was three years after the Oklahoma City Hornets had selected Paul with the fourth overall pick in the NBA draft.
Two dozen of the best high school and college guards in the country journeyed to the Gateway YMCA to participate in the event, which was and still is a family affair that is self-funded and operated by Chris, his brother, C, and their father, Charles. The event was attended by twenty-four of the nation’s top high school and college guards.
One of the first participants of Paul’s camp was quietly playing some of the best college basketball in the country at Davidson College, located around one hour to the southwest via Interstates 40 and 77.
Stephen Curry, a native of North Carolina and point guard for the Wildcats, was coming off a season in which he led the Wildcats to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament and averaged 25.9 points per game.
“Going to his camp, following in his shadow after I got drafted, and before my rookie year, he taught me what it was like to work and prepare for an NBA season; the time and attention to detail that you needed to put in,” Curry said in an interview with NBA Online Betting PH. “He taught me what it was like to work and prepare for an NBA season; the time and attention to detail that you needed to put in.”
Attending Paul’s camp is one of the things that Curry believes helped him be ready for the NBA. In 2014, Curry launched The Steph Curry Camp, an annual summer program held in Alameda, California, for the most talented high school prospects.
Curry and Paul have competed against one another on the same court more than fifty times since both players were drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 2009. But now, for the first time in their separate careers, the two future point guards who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame will play alongside each other for the first time this autumn for the Warriors. This will happen several years after Paul served as Curry’s mentor.
Curry stated that one of the many beautiful things about basketball is that “you can’t write these narratives.” To bring this discussion full circle, we’ve fought a lot of wars over the course of these many years. Incredibly, we have the chance to play together and win at the top level, given that he’s in Year 18 and I’m going into Year 15 next year. We share a fiercely competitive spirit, both him and I.
